Google Celebrates Earth Day

Open up Google today and a beautiful green landscape complete with streams, a bright sun, birds and trees greets you. It’s time for a doodle again and today folks at Google are celebrating Earth Day with this interactive, animated doodle.

There’s a play button on the doodle, right on the sun and when you click the sun, begins the amazing journey of Earth through its various seasons. The G for Google is made up of flowers and clicking on the flowers brings them in bloom. The sun moves slowly from East to West, giving way to the moon. While the sun symbolises Spring and Summers, the moon brings autumn and winters with it. There are fishes playing in the water. Move away from your screen (open a new tab/program) and the doodle freezes with the fishes huddling at the bottom of the pool. Scroll over the doodle to restart movement.

The mountains from which the river stems have caves on them. Click on the caves and there are fuzzy bears that come out. The bear in the second cave is right in the middle of enjoying his meal of fresh fish when you called him out! Uh-oh. Right next to the stream is a hole in which a racoon resides. He sure does not like being disturbed and glares with hands raised as you click on the hole to let him out.

Clicking on clouds too, creates some action. Click when it’s winter and you see the doodle slowly get covered in soft snow-flakes followed by a cold, blue ground. Clicking on clouds brings not just snow but also a fresh shower. The best feature of the doodle are the fire-flies that cover the doodle, imparting a soft golden light immediately after a shower. However, make the clouds rain at night to experience the fireflies.

Google Doodles are not just entertaining and bring a smile to faces on dreary Monday mornings but are also equally informative. Clicking on the stone with the magnifying glass or “search” logo will take you to the search results for Earth Day.

Celebrated on 22nd April, Earth Day was first proposed by John McConnell in 1969 at the UNESCO Conference in San Fransisco. However, he put forth the idea to celebrate the day on 21st March. Soon after his suggestion was put forth, Gaylord Nelson, a US senator proposed having 22nd April as Earth Day instead. His suggestion was taken up and since then, the 22nd of April is celebrated as International Mother Earth Day every year.